Tiny Farm Forum: Recent Posts

Tiny Farm Forum: Recent Posts http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Tiny Farm Forum: Recent Posts en Fri, 19 Mar 2010 13:23:35 +0000 Evi7777 on "Looking for Irrigation Suggestions" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/looking-for-irrigation-suggestions#post-2203 Wed, 10 Mar 2010 00:04:10 +0000 Evi7777 2203@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Howdy, We are about to start our second year of farming a 1 acre plot and are trying to decide the best irrigation method. Last year we planted 1/2 acre just to test it out and we used drip line, that didn't do a fabulous job and I disliked. The plot we farm was once a very amazing homestead garden, it was flood irrigated from a large pond on the property, lots of the old metal 4 inch pipe is still there and runs all the way into the garden there are a few breaks in the line but we think it can be mended. Once it is mended we aren't sure how to use the flood irrigation, it's a hard subject to research and I am wondering if anyone has any experience. We were told that the guy who used to own our farm 20+ years ago would flood it once a week. It gets real hot and I imagine he must of supplemented some other kind of watering the rest of the week and when plants were young. I'm not crazy about the idea of more plastic drip line and wonder if anyone has good suggestions for small sprinkler set ups for an acre. I am also curious to know if anyone knows about toxicity in Drip line like there is in PVC. Thanks for reading. tractorguy on "power steering or hydraulics on a Deutz 10006" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/power-steering-or-hydraulics-on-a-deutz-10006#post-2201 Sun, 07 Mar 2010 16:16:29 +0000 tractorguy 2201@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Tony, our guys may be able to help with your power steering and hydraulics problem on your tractor. <a href="http://www.crosscreektractor.com/">Cross Creek Tractor</a> BlackRam on "Raising Pigs" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-pigs#post-2200 Mon, 01 Mar 2010 02:36:09 +0000 BlackRam 2200@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Google Joel Salatin He have a bunch to say about pig tracktoring. magicheater on "tiny tractor requirements" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/tiny-tractor-requirements#post-2197 Wed, 24 Feb 2010 19:14:57 +0000 magicheater 2197@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ My B7800 is 30HP with R-4 rears and R-1 fronts. I went with a wider front tire because I have a loader on it and use <a href="http://www.mytractortools.com">Loader Buddy</a> almost exclusively in my day to day chores. The tines are particularly effective in loosening soil, prying out rocks and removing unwanted vegetation. It carries long items(fence posts for example) and is still effective for normal bucket work. It is the tool of choice for my loader and is on my tractor 95% of the time. Eileen Wyatt on "Raising Pigs" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-pigs#post-2195 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 21:40:07 +0000 Eileen Wyatt 2195@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I'd also love to see more on real-life experiences with raising pigs in an urban/suburban environment. When I threw up my five-year-old corporate job in Minnesota to start a new life in Arizona last January, it was with the intent to be more self-sufficient. Ended up as a marketing flack in a downtown office tower again *sigh* to pay bills... so my chickens are going great and don't demand much attention, but I really want to try pigs and want a realistic idea of what's involved. And there's not much out on the Web that I can find. Please help! sweet rock farm on "Raising Chickens for Eggs or Meat" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-chickens-for-eggs-or-meat#post-2194 Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:45:37 +0000 sweet rock farm 2194@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hi, I have built and use a chicken tractor and I find it very handy. Some quick thoughts: build it light, because you will be moving it every day or so. It is great to use for a preliminary weeding/tilling/fetilizing in a vegetable bed, before the final prep of planting. Finally, make it predator proof! A good site for getting ideas on building your own chicken tractor is citychicken.com There's lots of pics. Have fun, Sal Oldman on "Raising Chickens for Eggs or Meat" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-chickens-for-eggs-or-meat#post-2193 Mon, 22 Feb 2010 21:58:19 +0000 Oldman 2193@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I don't know about being able to sell them and truely doubt it would be a worth while idea to try, but I have built three and sold two of them and I truely believe that this design would be hard to beat if you can weld. 1/2" electrical conduit is a stout pipe and doesn't weigh much and it will fore ever be cheap compared to most materials just because what it's made for. The last bundle I bought was $1.86 for a 10' stick. It takes about 20 sticks to build a 10' x 10' tractor that my daughter and I can pick up and walk 10 feet pretty easy with. I put chicken wire on the sides and cover it with a 12' x 16' tarp but I goofed. I bought 50 roosters for meat and them things called every fox for miles up here, LOL. The tarp worked fine for the hens. We had 25 hens and was selling about 12 dozen eggs a week and eating all we wanted but when I got the roosters it fell apart. The foxes tore the tarp all to bits before I knew what was happening. But if you are interested in seeing how I build them PM me and I will tell you how easy it is and it's pretty easy if you can weld. Good luck. Dennis Quake on "When do I put down drip lines" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/when-do-i-put-down-drip-lines#post-2192 Thu, 18 Feb 2010 20:59:10 +0000 Quake 2192@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I have a question about the order of tasks to plant. Most specifically when do you lay down drip tubing. I'm going to start raising some vegetable crops this spring and would like to plant several different vegetables. I've planted a cover crop and plan to till that in with a tractor and rotary tiller as soon as the ground thaws, dries and the cover is high enough to add value. I'd like to flame weed the direct sown seeds beds. So when do I lay the tubing (planning to us Row Drip or Aqua Traxx)? Is the order as follows; Rotary till in compost and cover crop, bed form (4 foot width), over head sprinkle to start weeds growing, allow about a week to give the weeds a ahead start, sow seeds, then lay drip tube??? Wait for the weeds to emerge and then flame weed. How do I keep from cooking the drip tube? Your thoughts veteran farmers media_question on "Media Question: URGENT" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/media-question-urgent#post-2191 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 21:55:11 +0000 media_question 2191@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hi there! I'm a current master's student at the University of Western Ontario here in London, ON. I'm working on my television feature about the Endangered Species Act that calls for private property owners to protect the habitats of endangered species, even if the species happens to inhabit their property. I was wondering if you knew anyone in southwestern Ontario who had an endangered species (such as the American badger, or any other kind) inhabit their farm and who is willing to share their story. If you could please help me out with finding a source for this story I would be greatly appreciative. You can contact me at <a href="mailto:mionova@uwo.ca.">mionova@uwo.ca.</a> Thank you so much and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Maria Singletaryfarmgoods on "Walk-in coolers?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/walk-in-coolers#post-2190 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 13:45:31 +0000 Singletaryfarmgoods 2190@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Thanks Mike and Matthias. Yes, I have seen the difference a little cooling can do for things in the heat of the summer. Lettuce that lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge and looks great or lettuce that lasts a few days and never really looks as good as it should. That and the ability to spread out labor are what I was hoping to hear. The ability to harvest when things were the ideal size was something that I had overlooked though. So if there are any other things to consider about the building or using a big cooler I would love to hear about it. I have updated my plan some. I am going to build a 4'x8'x6'tall foot cooler with the coolbot and a A\C unit on a small trailer I have. It won’t be a real “walk in” but it will be enough for this year as I only have 20 CSA members. The benefit I saw was that it would keep things cool on the way to the CSA drop off, could be pulled down to the field during harvest and would be useful if I start going to some of the markets in the area. If things get bigger next year or later I can build a real walk in with the coolbot & A\C from the trailer and still use the trailer cooler for temp storage in the field. Things are still early in the season but that is the plan right now. I will keep you updated as to how it goes. Thanks again, William jacquesG on "Raising Chickens for Eggs or Meat" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-chickens-for-eggs-or-meat#post-2189 Tue, 16 Feb 2010 06:28:13 +0000 jacquesG 2189@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hey Readers, I just came across Tiny Farm Forum and think it is a great resource! I am hoping some of you readers might have Chicken Tractors (tiny chicken coops). I am in the process of creating a business plan to start building them in a mass production environment. My problem is that i have a hard time to justify or identify the demand. Does anyone have any idea where i can find statistics on the gaining popularity for this product? Keep up the good work TFB, let's make the world a bit greener! Matthias on "Walk-in coolers?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/walk-in-coolers#post-2188 Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:01:00 +0000 Matthias 2188@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I think Mike sums up the reasons you'd want to go with a cooler i.e. extending your harvest window. Last year we set up a small 8x8 cooler with a coolbot/airconditioner unit and it made a world of difference for making harvest less insane. Now with 2 days to space harvest over, we can get everything done for our 100 share CSA without staying up till 4 AM. It also makes holding produce that would otherwise be wasted possible. For example, we can harvest spinach or mesclun when it is at its peak for size and store it until the bulk order delivery day now, whereas before that crop may have grown too large for the restaurants/ commercial clients to use (restaurants can be quite picky about uniformity in product!) Zaca on "Learning Resources" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/learning-resources#post-2187 Sat, 13 Feb 2010 15:20:17 +0000 Zaca 2187@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I have found the <a href="http://www.soilandhealth.org/">soil and health library</a> has a huge number of really interesting books. And its free! They have most of the "classics". I recommend "The Living Soil" by Lady Eve Balfour and "The Farming Ladder" by George Henderson (is more about livestock, but still very inspiring) Mike (tfb) on "Walk-in coolers?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/walk-in-coolers#post-2186 Sat, 13 Feb 2010 14:36:32 +0000 Mike (tfb) 2186@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ After several (7) seasons of harvesting without a cooler, we are definitely going to build some sort of cool room this season. Possibly around the size you mention - 6x10 - but perhaps a bit bigger. The reason is, we are planning this year to produce more than before. I've done 80-100 market units on a single harvest day, for next day use. In peak harvest weeks, that's for 10-15+ crops. That took all day, into the night, and with a fairly large crew of 5 or more people, for at least 3-4 hours each, and at least 2-3 of them for the whole long day. The main advantage I can see from a cooler at this still fairly tiny scale is indeed to spread out the harvest. Particularly things like beans, which take forever and are more sensitive to weather (I follow the rule of not picking 'em when they're wet, like, during rain, to avoid disease), can be picked 2-3 days earlier. That alone is a big deal. It's kind of cool to have absolutely superfresh produce, i.e. within 12-24 hours, but that's really not practical once your volume goes up, or if you don't have the labor. There's no way around that. From what I've heard, and from experience with a cool area of the barn, you can probably get by with an air conditioner in a reasonably well-insulated small space. The CoolBot seems to be effective, gets you more cold, and saves a lot of energy, so that would be the next alternative. I believe it works well. And then you get into compressors, which is more expensive, $2-3,000 CAD I think (I could be off), when I last priced it out, for maybe 10x10, with used equipment. You may find insulating an already cool space, with no additional cooling, would work as well, depending on the crop. One thing that's always true is getting your just-harvested crops as cool as you can as quickly as you can makes a big difference. That seemed obvious to me, but then I found that people will leave bins in the sun instead of at least putting them immediately into shade. So moving stuff to your coolest spot, literally within minutes on a hot, sunny day, will provide significant storage quality improvement, if you haven't been doing that already. That's my walk-in cooler input, unfortunately, not from experience of having done it, but from having thought about it a lot. :) In case no-one else answers soon, hopefully it's at least somewhat helpful! comfortfoodmadehealthy on "stuffed acorn squash" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/stuffed-acorn-squash#post-2181 Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:43:51 +0000 comfortfoodmadehealthy 2181@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Check out this wonderful <a href="http://bit.ly/stuffsquash">apple and sweet potato stuffed squash</a>! Singletaryfarmgoods on "Walk-in coolers?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/walk-in-coolers#post-2180 Tue, 09 Feb 2010 22:37:11 +0000 Singletaryfarmgoods 2180@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hello Everyone, I am just starting my first year growing for market and a small CSA. I have done enough growing for my self and family and friends that I am pretty comfortable scaling up for actual sales. The one thing I am the most unsure about is the value of a small walk in cooler. I have looked at the coolbot product and am considering using it and a small A\C unit to cool a small 6x10 walk-in cooler. I think I can probably put it all together for around $1800.00. My question was, Has beneficial has having a cooler been for those of you that have them, and for those of you that don't have one what are you doing to help keep your produce cold from harvest to sale? I really want my produce to hold up for my customers and I think having bulk cooling ability may help that ad let me spread out the harvest some instead of a marathon right before delivery. Just kind of wanted to see what other people's experiences are. Thanks William, sarak on "Seeders" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/seeders/page/2#post-2179 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 18:51:00 +0000 sarak 2179@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Has anyone tried the European Push Seeder from Johnny's? This one is only $300, it's not the European model mentioned before. I'm curious how it performs with small seeds. Firefox on "Anyone have a hog problem in Texas?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/anyone-have-a-hog-problem-in-texas#post-2178 Mon, 08 Feb 2010 12:18:45 +0000 Firefox 2178@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hey Everyone, I would like to take my Son and Daughter hog hunting but am willing to hunt anything that is a nuisance. I live in the DFW area and thought we could help each other out. Please message me if you have a population problem. Thanks in advance! Kevin M. Fox Oldman on "Raising Pigs" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-pigs#post-2169 Thu, 28 Jan 2010 23:04:39 +0000 Oldman 2169@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I am a disabled construction worker (because of a fall from a make shift scaffold on a side job, with no insurance to boot) and the doc told me about six years ago I would never work again. That was the day I got out of the hospital and about three hours before I was cutting an oak tree down for firewood standing on crutches, so you can see I am an old hard head. Problem is, the doc was about half way right. After six years I agree I will never work a regular job again, but hey, I have never been a regular person anyway, LOL. We almost lost everything we worked years for but managed to keep, uh, our mouths out of the water most of the time and sometimes just our nose. But the thing is we did it, and we have an old farm house, about a 1920-30's model that I nearly finished remodeling befor I fell, and it's on it's own lot. 3.84 +/- acres. Then there is 58 acres behind here with the first of it behind the housr about 20 acres in fiels that hasn't been planted for probably 30 years, but has been bush hogged every year. And then there is about 38 acres that is just woods. Plenty of brush and plenty of fallen trees etc. but a lot of good timber. Just not enough for a logger to fool with. But I have built a saw mill with an eighteen H.P. engine and 36" bar on it. (It's a chainsaw type mill. There is way more timber than I will ever need for any type of buildings etc. and as you can expect, I can take a young buck like my futher SIL and easily cut enough wood for a 8' x 12' shelter for whatever in a day, even in the shape I am in. Need be I can have 4 yough bucks out there. The thing is, I want to, well actually my FSIL and 3 of his brothers can't find a job at all. A day here and a day there. The kids finishing school now can't find anything around here. But I want to farm the field and raise goats and pigs in the woods. I can fence it in with electric fenceing, and there is a small spring fed creek that runs the lenght of the left side and back of it for their water as they want it. A will also raise chickens for eating and selling eggs, and did so for two years until I bought 100 roosters for meat (don't ever do that) and they yelled for every fox in 10 miles to come and get it 24/7's. That won't happen again. I need some first hand advice. Really just to varify what I have already read that makes me wonder about it. #1,, I have read some pig farmers feed them dirt. ,,,, Say what??? I know they will root up the ground and eat the roots, but these people are saying they actually dig dirt for them during the winter. There has been several articles I have read that says they eat it like we eat steak and lobster. Is that true?????? #2,, I have also read that an 8' x 12' pig tractor needs to be moved every two days if whats under it has pretty good growth and they will plow it and fertilize it at the same time. Now that makes sense to me. But that is only 96 sq ft. That would be less that an acre a year per tractor and they didn't say how many pigs were in each one. So I have 38 acres of woods that have all kinds of brush grown up anywhere the sun gets to plus plenty of brush in side the woods and downed trees also. So how much feed would I need to add to what they grub up??? I am wondering if 40 piglets would be OK together if I built them about 10 shelters about 8-10' x 12-16'???????? I'd appriciate any first hand input any of you could give me. Thanks Dennis Itfarmer on "Learning Resources" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/learning-resources#post-1018 Wed, 20 Jan 2010 13:03:29 +0000 Itfarmer 1018@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Hi Everyone ! I'm a reader from PA, and I must say you have a top notch website, and a beautiful farm. I have a blog as well, geared more towards the learning aspect of gardening, from an IT guys perspective. I learned computers when I was young, and now I have the time to learn gardening. Plants are much more rewarding then computers ! My blog is at <a href="http://itfarmer.wordpress.com">itfarmer.wordpress.com </a> Thanks; Jon Macpherson eatlocalco on "Starting CSA in the farm's first year?" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/starting-a-csa-in-the-farms-first-year#post-795 Tue, 19 Jan 2010 16:01:52 +0000 eatlocalco 795@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ It is great to hear other experiences here! From my experience, it can be possible to start a CSA farm in your first year of farming. In 2009 my girlfriend & I went from our personal vegetable garden to around a 1/8 acre micro-farm and CSA and it was very successful. We ended up with 25 CSA members, several who were working share members, and we also sold at our farmstand (one day a week) and to a couple restaurants. Using biointensive, intercropping and strictly organic methods, we grew around one pound per square foot of annual crops. We also have a perennial area filled with culinary & medicinal herbs, as well as several types of berries. The hardest part for us newbie farmers was trying to figure out how much to grow, how much space it would require, and how many people we could feed. We tried several of the garden planner programs out there but none gave us all the data we needed... so we made our own farm planning calculator. We spent a ton of time researching the potential yields of various plants, and many other variables. During the growing season we kept detailed notes and compared actual harvest details with the data our farm calculator gave us, and it was really quite accurate! Seeing how useful the calculator was, we turned it into a web application so others could benefit from it. You can find it here: <a href="http://www.landshareco.org/tools/">http://www.landshareco.org/tools/</a>. The other thing we did was to fully document the entire process of starting a small CSA farm so we could share that with others as well. Our <a href="http://www.landshareco.org/grow-your-own-csa/">Grow Your Own CSA</a> article documents setting up the business and LLC, our budget, planning the garden, harvest totals, income & and expenses, detailed labor info on all person-hours spent, as well as other info. Hopefully our article on starting a CSA, and our online farm & garden planner will help others start their farms, or even home gardens. We've had several existing farms use the calculator and tell us it is a great tool, if any of you use it, we'd love to get your feedback. Jim Rinaldo on "Farm storage" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/farm-storage#post-442 Fri, 15 Jan 2010 23:35:17 +0000 Rinaldo 442@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ We used one of those buildings in 1998 as a gym/wrestling club room. We had an air conditioner as it was down in Orlando and it would get really hot in that building. If I remember correctly it stood up to 2 hurricanes and kept on going. It took us 3 weekends to get it set up after laying a cement foundation. It was a larger Steel building. It could easily keep 60 wrestlers and a few lockers. I'd imagine its the most efficient way to create a safe haven for animals, although during rain showers it gets really loud inside! Animals may freak out. Matthias on "Seeders" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/seeders/page/2#post-441 Wed, 13 Jan 2010 20:46:30 +0000 Matthias 441@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ 6 Row Precision seeder Hi, After reading a few comments on this seeder since my last post (last year)I'm back to update everyone on year two. I purchased the extended seed range shaft for the seeder last spring in order to plant larger seed (beet/chard) and i found it worked quite well. Just like carrots(pelleted seed) spinach, onion, and radishes, beets and chard grew in a perfect grid, evenly spaced. However I must emphasize, the seedbed MUST BE PERFECTLY SMOOTH in order for the seeder to work. It is also meant to plant BEDS of vegetables, not rows. Eliot Coleman's experimentation in intensive planting in fertile soil, led him to design a seeder that would accomplish that aim. The beds create canopy's of foliage that choke out weeds and really reduces weeding. It also allows for simpler harvesting of greens, like mesclun and spicy mix, by the use of another innovation, the greens harvester. Root veggies, like carrots, grow very well (my best carrot year ever was this summer) spaced on a 4 inch grid with this seeder. They all grow to full maturity, provided the soil is fertile, on spacing this tight and really cut down on weeding. Unlike single row seeders, the 6 row can cover a wide swath in a single pass. The seeder is 15 inches wide, so 3 passes covers my 48 inch tractor mounted rototiller swath, with a few inches on both sided for a path. However, this system is not foolproof. The drawbacks are the need for a very fine and level seedbed. Another drawback is that there is no way to mechanically cultivate between the rows. All weeding in these beds must be done by hand until the canopy grows in. Also, this seeder takes time and finesse to master, it can be finicky, it is a precision instrument that operated within very fine tolerances. But if you are patient enough to learn how to use it, the results are very rewarding. On the subject of larger seeders, this year we used the old earth-way for the last time. No matter how straight you try to manually plant a row, its never straight enough to cultivate with the tractor. So after 6 years, its bye bye earthway, and hello to something we can attach to a toolbar and plant with the kubota. 5 acres is just too much to intensively hand weed every single square foot, so the field crops (peas, beans, corn, potatoes) will be tractor cultivated from now on. We still need to do a bit of hoe and hand work in these areas, but the tractor can handle the major between the row stuff. SO I'm in the market, thanks for the info on the Jang, it looks pretty promising and also Mikes push model planet Junior comes in a tractor mounted variety. Anybody with info on a small scale tractor seeders, please let me know! As always, Thanks to Mike for creating the forum, its a great resource! Mathias Judy on "Grow Your Own Transplants" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/grow-your-own-transplants#post-439 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:08:49 +0000 Judy 439@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ The basis of a healthy transplant is a good soil-less potting mix. Using a soil-less mix eliminates disease organisms, pests and weed seeds that may be found in soil. I prefer organic and mix my own. There are a number of potting mixes available at local stores including organic mixes. You may want to experiment with various mixes or mix your own. Basic Organic Potting Mix Recipe 2 parts <a href="http://uwharriefarm.typepad.com/uwharrie_farm/composting.html">Compost</a> 3 parts Sphagnum Peat Moss 1 part Perlite 1 part Vermiculite (optional) Add per every 8 gallons of mix: ½ cup Bone Meal (Phosphorous) 1 ½ cups Dolomitic Limestone (Raises soil pH and provides calcium and magnesium) ½ cup Blood Meal (Nitrogen) ½ cup Kelp Meal (Nitrogen, potassium and minerals) Mix thoroughly and add enough water to moisten well. If you can't find organic fertilizers locally <a href="http://www.espoma.com">Espoma</a> and <a href="http://www.groworganic.com">Peaceful Valley Farm Supply</a> have a wide selection to choose from. Put potting mix in plant cells or 3 inch pots and add seed. As a general rule cover the seed with a layer of mix that is 4 times the width of the seed. Place in a sunny window, a greenhouse, or under florescent lights. Keep evenly moist. Most vegetables will grow quite nicely at temperatures between 70 and 80 degrees with 8 hours or more of sunlight or light from florescent bulbs. Growing transplants rather than direct seeding can give you a head start on the growing season. Transplants in the garden also have an advantage over the smaller weeds that germinate around them which makes weeding easier. Planting corn at 2 week intervals will give you an extended harvest. Using corn transplants rather than direct seeding makes better use of your garden area. No space is wasted because of poor germination and seed is not lost through plant thinning. I like to grow the following plants to transplant to my garden: Onions, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli, collards, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, okra, pumpkin, squash and corn. greenuprising on "Seeders" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/seeders/page/2#post-438 Wed, 06 Jan 2010 15:18:15 +0000 greenuprising 438@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ It's important to keep the Earthway clean. I didn't and found the thing increasingly likely to grind seed. You can easily remove the wheel that holds the plate, clean it up, put a little grease on it, and put it back. But clean the plates, as well, and the hopper. It's also necessary to ream out the channel the seeds drop through, because spiders will nest in there and catch your seeds. I'm interested in more feedback on the 6-row precision seeder. It needs a smooth seedbed (which my little BCS largely provides), and, as Coleman points out, it's a tool, not a machine, meaning you have to tinker with it. I'd like to hear more from tinyfarm about the seedbed you tried it out on, etc. And from others who've tried it. Mike_S on "tiny tractor requirements" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/tiny-tractor-requirements#post-436 Sat, 02 Jan 2010 02:01:27 +0000 Mike_S 436@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I've actually built an electric tractor out of an old 1948 massey harris model 20. <img src="http://i47.tinypic.com/34sfihd.jpg" alt="Electric Tractor" /> I'm using lousy deep cycle marine batteries for the time being, but I'm going to get some golf cart ones soon that will enable me to work pretty well all day. I also updated it with a 3 point hitch system and I'm working on making implements for it. It's not quite finished yet, there's a bunch of cosmetic stuff to do, but all the things that you need to do work are in place and 100% functional. If any of you would like to see, please check out my website: <a href="http://electric-massey.blogspot.com/"></a> Howling Duck Ranch on "How can I make my Own maple syrup" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/how-can-i-make-my-own-maple-syrup#post-434 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:33:12 +0000 Howling Duck Ranch 434@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I've got a post on the topic, <a href="http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/the-taste-of-place/">The taste of place.</a> Mine is a mix of birch and maple syrup but the process is the same for straight maple. cheers, HDR Howling Duck Ranch on "Raising healthy White Rock chickens for meat" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/raising-white-rock-chickens-for-meat#post-433 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:30:05 +0000 Howling Duck Ranch 433@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Mike, Would love to hear how the next 5 weeks fared? I raised Cornish Crosses this year (50 mix of hens and cocks) and despite dire warnings of all the ailments you mention, I couldn't put weight on them! Mine free ranged all over my 4 acres and eventually, I had to try to confine them just to keep/put weight on them. I nick-named them my '<a href="http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/06/18/cornish-crosses-not-fat-enough/">Jenny Craig Chickens</a>'. This experience has given me the confidence to actually try the 'frankenchickens' since my experience shows that they will free range if they have access. Cheers, HDR Howling Duck Ranch on "How to Butcher 'Tiny Farm' Animals" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/how-to-butcher-tiny-farm-animals#post-432 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 17:23:37 +0000 Howling Duck Ranch 432@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ My goal is similar to Mike's. I quit my job 20+ months ago and returned to a small west coast village to live my dream: to learn how to grow all my own fruit and veggies, raise my own food animals, and of course, learn how to butcher them. City girl born and raised, I do not have an agricultural background so all this was new to me. Consequently, I consulted the 'old timers' of the area during my steep learning trajectory. Here is a link to my various 'how to butcher' pages which show step by step via photo documentary the butchering process. <a href="http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/07/15/butchering-chickens/">Butchering Chickens</a> <a href="http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2008/10/26/butchering-day-turkeys-warning-graphic-photo-documentary/">Butchering Turkeys</a> <a href="http://howlingduckranch.wordpress.com/2009/10/11/goat-butchering-day-a-graphic-photo-documentary/">Butchering Goats </a> In good food, HDR blackdog on "Small Farm Irrigation Techniques" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/small-farm-irrigation-techniques#post-431 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 14:47:11 +0000 blackdog 431@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ For a community garden where I work, we have drip irrigation for about 2 acres of veggies. I like the drip irrigation a lot, but it is a lot of work to put out. The drip tape is not designed to last forever. We are continuously fixing leaks in the old drip tape. We get it from dripworks.com or Berry Hill Irrigation (have to google that one). We have our path centers spaced at 5 1/2 feet, so the bed is about 4 feet wide. We run two drip tape lines down each bed. Four rows for many crops (radishes, carrots, kohlrabi, onions, garlic, lettuce, spinach, maybe some others). So the 2 drip tape lines will water all 4 rows. 3, 2, or 1 rows in each bed for other crops. I think that drip tape is not so good for germinating seeds. We sprinkle with a hose to get the seeds sprouted, especially carrots. You will need valves to divide the space up if you do not have enough flow. A "normal" flow of 10 gallons per minute from a house spigot is not enough to water 2 acres. You will need valves and water only parts of the garden at a time. We have the 2 acres in 8 different 1/4 acre sections. Overall I like the drip irrigation. We can water every plant in the 2 acres by turning the water on. But it takes a lot of effort to set it up and fix leaks. I found that dripworks.com was very helpful to talk to to set things up. They are the ones that cautioned me to measure my flow first, which will determine how many valves and zones you will need. blackdog on "tiny tractor requirements" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/tiny-tractor-requirements#post-430 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 13:14:33 +0000 blackdog 430@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ I have a comment about the chisel plow. I went and bought a 1-shank soil ripper which is a bit heavier and longer I believe. My tractor is a john deere 955, 33 horsepower. It weighs about 3260 pounds with the loader in fluid in the wheels. This machine cannot pull the ripper if it is all the way down, about 24 inches. But I do believe the plan is to pull it just below the hard layer that I want to break up. It can pull the ripper just fine if I set it about 12 inches. The only issue I guess is that it is going to take a while to cover a lot of ground. I did a criss-cross pattern with about 18 inch spacing over 2 acres and that took about 4 hours. The field had somewhat poor drainage with heavy soil and being somewhat low. The ripping did help quite a bit with drainage, and my hope also is that the vegatable roots can go down deep. By the way if the ripper is all the way down, the wheels will spin. It is important to have plenty of weight, not just horsepower. I very much like the hydrostatic transmission. For something like the ripper or rototiller, you can go as slow as you want. It is also very nice for working with the loader. For a small tractor with rototiller and loader, I would highly recommend going with the hydrostatic transmission. blackdog on "Seeders" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/seeders/page/2#post-429 Sun, 27 Dec 2009 12:58:06 +0000 blackdog 429@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ For planting carrots with the Jang seeder, is it best to use pelleted seed. Using pelleted seed, is it possible to plant them at 1 - 2 inches spacing so no thinning is required? I have not had much luck with the earthway seeder even with pelleted seed. It seems to jam up and grind the pellets up. I see that non-pelleted carrot seed with kelp added is mentioned above. How precisely can the seed be planted with this method? Precisely enough so no thinning is required? How much kelp do you add? Thank you for any info you can provide. ap19 on "Seeders" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/seeders/page/2#post-428 Wed, 16 Dec 2009 15:15:09 +0000 ap19 428@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ used the Jang all season. incredible. the only issue is having to switch out the whole gear system everytime you change seed...in rocky soil the plates can get hung up and jam, so you gotta watch. for the money quite possibly the best seeder available. previously used three earthways, for three rows, still use those for lettuces sometimes. planting 300 foot beds is done in 1/4 the time. blockguru on "Soil Blockers for seed propagation" http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/soil-blockers-for-seed-propagation#post-427 Sun, 13 Dec 2009 16:10:02 +0000 blockguru 427@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ OK, what one "thinks is influencing germination" and what is Truth, are completely different. The soil block is no different than the earth compressed underneath, say after a dear walks through your garden and compresses the soil underfoot. Don't you notice the increased germination rate in the footprint? What is effecting Michael's germination is stagnant air, stagnant water, damp conditions, no light, no heat, no fans, wrong compost, wrong manure...get the Truth, get <a href="http://www.pottingblocks.com" rel="nofollow">www.pottingblocks.com</a> newport on "Free screening of ‘FOOD FIGHT’ – “Revolution Never Tasted So Good”." http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/topic/free-screening-of-%e2%80%98food-fight%e2%80%99-%e2%80%93-%e2%80%9crevolution-never-tasted-so-good%e2%80%9d#post-426 Thu, 03 Dec 2009 15:27:11 +0000 newport 426@http://tinyfarmblog.com/forum/ Join us for our CINEMA SAGE HILL event on Tuesday, December 8 at 7:30pm. The Newport Beach Film Festival and The Studio at Sage Hill will present a free screening of the award winning documentary FOOD FIGHT followed by a Q&A session with co producer Thetis Sammons. FOOD FIGHT features Alice Waters, Michael Pollan, Bob Cannard and Wolfgang Puck. For information visit <a href="http://www.NewportBeachFilmFest.com" rel="nofollow">www.NewportBeachFilmFest.com</a>